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INMORIA Circle of Memories

Inmoria is the new name on the metal scene. The band was founded by Dan Eriksson (keyboards). The band is a kind of the side project from the band-members of Tad Morose and Morgana Le Fay. One of the best vocalists in metal nowadays Charles Rytkönen is coming from Swedish legends Morgana Le Fay and the other members are from Tad Morose. The final result is first full-length ‘Invisible Wounds’, an album with great and massive sound and psychedelic dark melodies. ‘Invisible Wounds’ is already well-received in the metal media and Inmoria is surely going to become a new light on the current scene.

Hello! Your debut album ’Invisible Wounds’ is already out for some time. ’Invisible Wounds’ is really great and strong issue! My compliments! So how are you satisfied by the reviews and the public response?

Hi there Marko, and thanks a lot!! We are really honored by all the awesome reviews that we have received so far and the public response is just amazing. It makes us really proud of what we have achieved and hopefully we can give something back and take our music out on the road.

How and when did you get this idea to form band Inmoria? Is it yet another side project or is it going to be full-time band? Please, tell us the story behind it.
From the beginning it all was meant to be a project, just for me to get some stuff out of my head. But when all the response and feedback starting to come in we skipped the idea about a project and now we are a full-time band. In April of 2008 I moved back to Sweden after living in Oslo (Norway) for some years. I was fed up with my job and in my head I started to “hear” music again after about a ten year absent from the musicscene after I left Tad Morose. I bought a house in my hometown and build my self a studio so I could get the music out of my head. After I had recorded about six tracks I called up my longtime friend Christer Andersson from Tad Morose and asked him to come over and listen to some tracks. He loved the songs and we started to talk about putting a band together. We asked Peter Morén (drums) and Tommi Karppanen (bass) both from Tad Morose to join the project and they did. We really didn’t have any other singer in mind when it was time to record the vocals. Charles wasn’t doing anything at the time so we just asked him to come over. And he is also from Bollnäs as the rest of us so that is really great. So I just called him and say: “Hey, come over and try some new ideas man……..- right, I’ll be there in five minutes, put the coffee on”…… So he came, sang and totally blew the walls down. His voice combined with the music was just awesome and it matches perfectly.

Please, can you name the members of the band? How did you decide to return one more to music world? Almost 10 years has passed since your last musical apprearance in any metal band…
Well we have Charles Rytkonen on vocals (Morgana Lefay), Christer Andersson on guitar (Tad Morose), Tommi Karppanen on bass (Tad Morose), Peter Morén on drums (Tad Morose) and me on keyboards. I don’t really know actually, suddenly it just came to me…….the will to write music again. It wasn’t any special moment or something that had happen, it just came like a lightning from heaven, haha!!! Or maybe, subconsciously, I was on my way to loose my mind over something because the first song that popped up in my head was “Come Insanity”.

Please, tell us something more about the recording and composing of ‘Invisible Wounds’? Who has composed all songs and where it was recorded? The production is very well done and it’s really powerful and massive.
I write all the music and all of the lyrics and I record everything in my own studio at first. When it is time for mixing and mastering we use Studio SoundCreation here in Bollnäs and the guy we use for that is “Mr Magic” Per Ryberg who is the owner of the studio. Basically the writing progress is pretty easy, I usually start with some keyboard chords but sometimes I start by playing some riffs on the guitar. Then I end up in some weird state of mind and I can hear the whole song, from the start to the end, in my head. So I don’t leave the computer until the track is finished. I just record every instrument one by one until it is finished. I just go back and change some small parts if I have to. Then I just call up the rest of the guys for them to come over and put their personal touch to it.

‘Come Insanity’ is the first video-clip from your debut effort. The video looks very powerful and amazing. But, do you have any other favorites from ‘Invisible Wounds’? Also, beside Charles Rytkönen, in few tracks we can witness one more female vocal.
Yes, “Come Insanity” is our first ever video and we are going to record another video very soon, and that is going to be on a totally new song. Well, I really like “Fantasy” just because of its mix between hardness and melodic sound. Yes, the female vocals bring an extra touch to the “darkness” that surrounds it all. We will continue to use some female vocals on the next album that I am currently in the process of writing. But we will not use it as much as on “invisible Wounds” instead we will probably use it more in the background.

What about the lyrical side of the album? Who has written the lyrics? From the titles I can guess that Charles Rytkönen is behind the lyrics.
As I said earlier, I do all the music and lyrics and all the lyrics are about the darkness and sickness that dwels deep inside all of us, but there are only a few of us that accept it, and embrace it as a friend. When I write the lyrics I see a “story” that takes place within my head and I write down what I see. I see characters, dark and depressing, almost like shadows, and they are running around and “talking” to me, begging me to help them out of their pain and out of their misery. So what they “say” to me I write down. My psychologist tells me that those figures are actually my “alter egos”. So you see, if Sigmund Freud were alive today then I would be his only patient…..haha!!

How would you like to label the music of Inmoria? I mean, there are some very powerful influences but again there are constant attacks of psychedelic-like keyboards’ melodies. Can it be labeled as some sort of Power Metal?
Hmm, that is a really tricky question actually. It is really hard to put any label on Inmoria but I think that we can accept the description that most of the press and media write about us, and that is “Dark Power Metal”. But if people don’t agree with that description……just wait for our next album and then surely they will agree haha!!

The story behind the name Inmoria is indeed the interesting one. It seems that it has some connection with Tolkien-based names. Please, explain how you named a band.
Yes that it right, I came up with the idea for the band name after I watched “The Lord of the Rings” for about the fiftieth time. When some of the characters was on their way to enter the dwarfs mine called “Moria” it just came to me. So all I had to do was to put “In” in the beginning and then Inmoria was born. The atmospheres in the mines are so dark and depressing so I thought that it would be perfect for Inmoria´s music. It means basically that the five of us ARE in that dark, cold and depressing environment.

So far I have seen that you did only one show in Sweden, if I am not so wrong. Do you plan to have a bigger tour and visit some places inside Europe? Also, do you already have some ideas with which bands you would like to tour with?
Yes, we have only done one fucking gig and that was at our releaseparty in June and we really had a great time and a lot of people showed up. But all we want to do now is to tour our asses off and bring our music out to the fans, so we basically just waiting for some offers. We receive so many mails and stuff from fans all over the world begging us to come, and we really want to come so hopefully we will soon be able to have a few beers with our fans, haha!! We have now joined forces with Dragon Production, who is a concert and promotion company, and hopefully they will hook us up on something.
Hmmm, one dream would be to go on a huge world tour with Nightwish. I really love that band and one of my biggest keyboard influences are in that band, namely Toumas Holopainen. To sit down with a bottle of wine (or three) and discuss deeper stuff with him would be awesome. And since we all are huge fans of Savatage, so a tour with them would be a blast. It would probably feel like “We’re not worthy”, haha!!

‘Invisible Wounds’ is already released though a major metal label German-based Massacre Records. So, you’ve already with the debut effort signed for bigger record company. How did end on Massacre Records?
Everything went pretty fast, I mean we uploaded some of the tracks on our official Myspace-site and then it went just a few months before Massacre Records contacted us and offered us a deal. So we signed for them in December and then we already had the material recorded but we had to wait until April -09 before we could enter Studio SoundCreation for the final mixing and mastering. And our debut was released in June.

I guess you can tell us what is now happening with Morgana Lefay, since now Charles Rytkönen is in your band. Are they still active or not?
Well, Morgana Lefay still exists as a band but they have taken a long vacation and no one really knows for how long and neither does the bandmembers themselves. So we just have to wait and see what happens with Morgana Lefay.

Please, tell us also something about the music that you personally listen? Add some your favorite albums and bands.
Well except from Nightwish I listen right now a lot to a new Swedish band called “Dead By April” who is really brutal but also with melodic stuff. I basically listen to all kinds of music, everything from Vangelis to Goa and Trance-music, haha!! But if I have to do a “top 5” of some all time favorites that are constantly in my Mp3-player, then the list would be: 1. Queensryche “Operation Mindcrime” 2. Rob Zombie – “Hellbilly Deluxe” 3. The Prodigy – “Music for the jilted Generation” and “The Fat of the Land” 4. Savatage – ”Gutter Ballet” and “Edge of Thorns” 5. Danger Danger – “Danger Danger” : )

Well, this is for all for now. Thanks a lot for your time, answers and opportunity to make one interview. Do you have any message for the public?
It is I who shall say thank you : ) Well, we really hope that you like our album and hopefully we all see eachother on tour somewhere. PEACE!!!!